City Of Sound
A Rough Guide To Gradings

As I will be writing for The Rock this year I'm bringing my grading system into line with theirs. Here is how it works.

A song is awarded points on a scale of 0 to 3, where 0 is considered to be crap, 1 average, 2 good and 3 classic. We add up the total and then divide it by the total points available - for ten songs that will be 30 (3x10), 11 songs 33, and so on. This figure is then multiplied by 100 to achieve the magical % rating.

Of course it is not an exact science and the rating is still very much a matter of opinion. Anything between 60-70% has to be considered a strong effort while you won't come across much above that very often.

100 - 91 Classic 50 - 41 Patchy
90 - 81 Essential 40 - 31 Below Average
80 - 71 Brilliant 30 - 21 Bad
70 - 61 Very Good 20 - 11 Very Bad
60 - 51 Good 10 - 00 Delete

July '98

Karaoke

BaalBAAL
KARAOKE
VIRGIN DENMARK 8 45574 2
62%

I remember getting a tape of Baal's first album and not being too impressed although I forget now what it was like exactly. So I wasn't full of anticipation when "Karaoke" turned up. What a difference a couple of years make! This is a very good album full of weird shapes and amalgams. "Colonel Me" slowly opens up the album like something from the last Dive album mixed with Pink Floyd atmospherics. "Beautiful" adds more guitars to the mix and highlights the deep and moody vocals, a blend of Jorn Lande (Vagabond), David Bowie and Mattias Lindblom (Vacuum). The title track sees a shift to the quirky pop style of Big Money, great. "Moonraker" melds the Big Money influence with Vacuum's atmospheric pomposity. "Aeroplane" is a brooding Dive like piece. "Trash" is the albums highlight. Imagine if you can a Vagabond like melody and Jorn Lande style vocals (not unlike on "Gold In The Air") then add a "drum n bass" rhythm track The result is pretty damn stunning. "So I Died In 1 Day" is built around an insistent bass line and a monotone vocal and builds to a big crescendo with feedbacking guitars and techno synths. "The Lunatic" by contrast is a simple vocal/piano piece full of atmosphere. "Game Over" once again brings out many of the Big Money/Vacuum similarities but with Baal's own characteristics, more modern synth sounds and less overt use of Euro-pop sensibilities. This is a very impressive piece of work from these Danes and is well worth tracking down if quirky Scandinavian pop rock appeals to you.

From The Toybox

SIMON APPLE
FROM THE TOYBOX
TRUNK SA88101
50%

First off Simon Apple are a THEY not a HE. On their debut album they merge elements of singer - songwriter style rock with some touches of jazz and prog rock and even a little west coast. Bands that come to mind when listening to the CD include Steely Dan, Jadis, Enchant and Big Big Train. "Without A Sound" and "A Boy Like Me" highlight the singer songwriter style while "Silent Cry" is a fast paced jazz rock number and "Pink Elephants" is west coast style AOR. I found the more progressive offerings to be the most interesting, melody lines and vocal style on tracks like "On The Shoreline" made me think of Gary Chandler from Jadis. "Scenes Of December" has some definite parallels with Enchant, from the rhythm structure to the melody of the solo and keyboard, and takes best song prize. "No Man" cranks things up a bit coming up with a more modern sounding number. Once underway "Blackwing Butterfly" has a good groove and for some reason the guitar lines kept reminding me of Donald "Buck Dharma" Roeser from Blue Oyster Cult. An interesting album from a band who should be well worth watching in the future.

http://www.simonapple.com
Email: sapple@itw.com

Siren

Heather NovaHEATHER NOVA
SIREN
V2 VVR1001872
67%

With her third studio album Heather Nova continues the sound created on her "Oyster" record. A combination of Joni Mitchell folk and Sarah McLachlan's modern elements together with Heather's own touches of rock and atmospheric strings. The most distinguishing feature of Heather's music are her vocals, which are high and pure and quite beautiful, not out and out rock'n'roll by any stretch of the imagination but ethereal and very English. From the subtle strains of "What A Feeling" and "Paper Cup" to the rockier moments of "London Rain", "I'm The Girl" and "Widescreen" "Siren" is packed with great songs. Acoustic guitars give way to feedbacking electrics, atmospheric strings meld with mellotrons, the solid percussion holding everything tightly together. Heather Nova's music takes a little while to get into but is well worth the effort.

The Tuesdays

THE TUESDAYS
THE TUESDAYS
ARISTA 07822-19001-2
68%

The Tuesdays are three ex members of Norwegian all girl band Tuesday Girls with another singer and drummer. Five of the songs on "The Tuesdays" have been re-recorded from the debut and the general feeling and approach remains the same, although the resulting album is much more consistent and a little rockier. Upbeat pop rock, with great hooks and melodies is the game plan and with Ole Evenrude producing you're sure of it succeeding. There's another Enuff Z'Nuff cover included and if you imagine EZN's Beatles influenced sound with a female singer and a few hints of Roxette, The Bangles, Erika and Belinda Carlisle you'll be close to what The Tuesdays are like. No point in going through the individual songs as they are all nothing less than good. A thoroughly enjoyable set of bubblegum pop rock - just right for cheering you up after a hard days work. Recommended.

Rock Formations

ROADSIDE ATTRACTION
ROCK FORMATIONS
HEADSPIN PRODUCTIONS CD1301
25%

While Californian quartet Roadside Attraction show a healthy diversity of influences on their debut CD they let themselves down with the sadly lacklustre songwriting. It's all well and good boasting of reggae, funk, latino, punk and southern rock influences but without the foundations of good songs it's all to little avail. The band, at their core are a simple trad hard rock act, although on "Lost Child" they add dark and doomy riffing, which even reminded me a bit of 80s doom metal. "Trust The Sun" is The Doors meets The Black Crowes, not my cup of tea, "Flat World" begins like The Doors gone reggae but at least boasts a neat latino mid section. "Fancy Bars" reminded me of Shark Island at times and "Sound Of The World" had a mid register Axl Rose feel to the vocals. This album really didn't do an awful lot for me unfortunately.

Contact: http://pw2.netcom.com/~roadside/roadside
Email: roadside@ix.netcom.com

Burnt By The Sun

AMY SKY
BURNT BY THE SUN
IRON MUSIC 77876 51027-2
28%

Amy Sky's second album sees Mrs Marc Jordan selling out to Country with big Shania Twain and LeAnn Rimes influences creeping in (and even God forbid Celine Dion - arrgghh!). Musically there are some quite good songs here but they are spoilt by the Country affectations that have crept into Sky's vocals and the arrangements. Sky's previous album was a decent collection of lightweight AOR tunes and there are still plenty of traces throughout this record but this time things are just too bland and polite. Even the hosts of top AOR names involved (Marc Jordan, Bruce Gaitsch, Matthew Gerrard, Ken Greer, Tom Cochrane) can't help pull things round. A very disappointing album.

Now & Then Records

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Peter Sims
Last update 15th July 1998
Created 5th July 1998 © Peter Sims